Rare Batch 20

Broom begins with a 10-year-old Glen Grant bottled by 19th-century British department store Army & Navy. The store sold goods for military officers around the world, and went on to become part of House of Fraser in 1975. It is believed this particular whisky was bottled in the 1950s.

Another Glen Grant expression follows, this time bottled by Gordon & MacPhail having been matured for 27 years in Sherry casks.

And to wrap up the latest batch of Speysiders, a Sherry-matured Longmorn 1969. Bottled at cask strength by Gordon & MacPhail, the whisky was released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Whisky Exchange in 2010.

Glen Grant 10 Years Old (Army & Navy)

Significant nutty Sherry influence with some ‘old bottle’ elements. This then moves into squashed berries, apple core and an oiliness suggestive of its vintage. Has brightness and depth, simultaneously.

Palate

Quite light and soft with cinnamon, then apple, before the well-balanced Sherry elements come in. As it opens, so this element begins drifting towards the hazy blue berries of Muscatel.

Finish

Rounded, graceful and deep, with touches of smoke.

Conclusion

Bottled in the 1950s, so you do the maths as to when this was distilled. Remarkably vivacious still.

Right place, right time

A night in a darkened tabanco in Jerez.

Glen Grant 27 Years Old

Old bottle funkiness to open with and some coal-like smoke in the background, and then cheese rind, tahini, touches of melon. It then shifts gear into leather-bound volumes in a library before relaxing, after a considerable time, into amazing, waxy rancio.

Palate

Immense fruit, whose mix of berries and dry savoury elements introduces an almost vermouth-like element. The smoke sneaks along beside this next to cinnamon (balls this time) and camphoraceous elements. Light in structure. In time, tropical fruits begin to show.